What Advocacy Agencies Do

Topics in this section:

Advocacy
Information
Education
Policy
Partnerships

Advocacy agencies are funded to provide an independent, free and confidential service to consumers of aged care services through the delivery of information, referral, support, advice and/or representation to both individuals and groups.

As consumers of aged care services have become more frail and are more likely to have dementia, the role of advocacy has become increasingly important in consumer protection.

The Residential Aged Care Advocacy Services Program achieves its mission through the delivery of advocacy, information, education and policy. Each of the individual advocacy agencies delivers these program components in different ratios, reflecting the need for local variations and consumer demand.

A number of the advocacy agencies also provide advocacy through other government funded programs, including the Disability Services Program and the Home and Community Care Program.

The advocacy agencies recognise that some consumers have special needs:

• Older people living in rural and remote areas
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander older people
• Older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
• younger persons with a disability in residential aged-care facilities
• older people with dementia
• older people of the program who also have a psychiatric disability

Advocacy agencies are developing strategies to ensure all older people have access to advocacy support.

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